Save The Environment - The Facts

The world's most effective, economical and environmentally sound residential and commercial water treatment technology available.  The PureOFlow system truly purifies the water for residential and commercial applications, removing on average between 90% and 96% of all contaminants from the water without the environmental effects of other water filtration technologies.  It is the first truly green water filtration technology available.

• Uses no salt.
• Adds no additional chemicals to the water.
• Operates at 33% to 50% efficiency as opposed to 6.7% to 17%.
• Has the capability of utilizing 100% of the incoming water, resulting in 100% efficiency.
• Utilizes carbon designed to last 5 years vs. 3-12 months.  Does not require a plastic housing either, thus reducing the impact to landfills.
• It’s primary sediment is designed to last 1 year on most applications and can be replaced while reusing the plastic housing.
• Uses ozone for disinfection.  Ozone is the most environmentally friendly disinfectant available.  It uses minimal energy and the byproduct of ozone is just good old oxygen.
• THE ONLY WATER TREATMENT DEVICE SELECTED FOR THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL’S GREEN PLANET SERIES:  “GREENOVATE”, which aired in July, 2008.

• In 2006, bottled water was an $11 billion industry.
• In 2006 in the U.S. alone, the production of the bottles resulted in the use of 27 million barrels of oil.
• The making of these bottles generated 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.¹
• Over 50 million tons of plastic is added to our landfills each year from bottled water bottles.
• Plastic bottles take 700 years before they begin to degrade.¹
• In 2003, only 12% of bottled water bottles were recycled vs. 30% for plastic soda bottles.  As a result, the overall recycling of plastic bottles fell from 53% in 1994 to 19% in 2003. ²
• In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 23%. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills. ¹
• In 2006, Americans consumed 28.3 gallons of bottled water per year compared to 1.6 gallons/person in 1976. ³
• If everyone in NYC gave up water bottles for one week they would save 24 million bottles from being
• landfilled;one month would save 112 million bottles and one year would save 1.328 billion bottles from going into the landfill. ¹
• The average price for bottled water is $1.00/16 ounces.  That equates to $8.00/gallon.  More than double the current cost of gas.
• ¹  Data taken from Earth911
• ²  Data from MSNBC, March, 2005
• ³  Data from Beverage Marketing Corporation

• To the right is a drawing showing the regeneration process of a typical downflow salt exchange system.
• Water softeners (salt exchange systems), exchange one "hard" salt ion for another "softer" ion.  In most cases this exchange is between the "harder" ions calcium (Ca++) and/or Magnesium (Mg++) and "softer" ions sodium (Na+) or potassium (K+). 
• Salt exchange systems contain resin beads that are negatively charged.  During service, these beads begin surrounded by either by sodium or potassium ions (softer ion).  Due to the stronger ionic charge of the harder ions, the softer ions are pushed off and replaced with the harder ions.
• Generally, for every harder ion removed, two softer ions are added to the water supply.
• At some point these resin beads become saturated with harder ions (on average 513,000 parts/million for every cubic foot of resin).  When this occurs (on average two times/week), the salt exchange system goes into regeneration.  During this process high concentrations of soidum chloride (NaCl), or potassium chloride (KCl), are forced across the resin beads effectively overwhelming the hard ions and displacing them on the resin beads with the softer ions.  During this process the water is run to drain – dumping high concentrations of calcium, sodium, carbonate and chloride ions into the environment.
• Below is a drawing showing the regeneration process of a typical downflow salt exchange system.
• REGENERATION CYCLE
  
• In the city of Las Vegas, it has been estimated that water softeners add over 250,000,000 pounds of salt to the environment every year.
• Currently salt exchange systems are being banned in regions throughout the country due to their salt usage, including a pending bill banning water softeners in the entire state of California.

Filtration comes in many forms. The two standard filtration technologies for residential & commercial potable water filtering are sediment filtration and carbon filtration.

• Sediment Filtration:  Sediment filters are used in homes and commercial applications to remove relatively larger particles from the water – particles down to 0.5 microns in diameter.   For reference, one micron equals 4 x 10-5 inches  (0.00004).
• Carbon Filtration:  Carbon filters are used in homes and commercial application to primilary remove chlorine from potable water supplies.  Carbon filtration is the most common form of manufactured water filtration equipment.
• These filters typically are configured 2.5” or 4.0” diameter by 10” or 20” long.  They last on average between 3-6 months.
• In a typical restaurant, there will be at least three sediment and three carbon filters – generally used in front of ice machines and beverage stations.  Changing out these filters every quarter means over 15,480,000 sediment and carbon filters end up in U.S. landfills every year. ¹
• ¹ Based on The National Restaurant Associations 2006 estimate of 645,000 restaurants in the U.S.

Disinfection is used around the world to make certain the water we drink does not contain harmful bacteria.  There are many forms of disinfection with chlorine (and also chloramine), being the most common.  Some of the other forms of disinfection include ultraviolet light, iodine, bromine and ozone.  While each of these disinfection technologies can be effective, many have environmental downsides.

• Chlorine:  Has the potential to be a carcinogen under certain conditions.  Also, has a distinctive taste and can damage rubber and other petroleum based materials.
• Ultraviolet Light:  Uses significant amounts of energy and requires frequent lightbulb repalcements.
• Iodine & Bromine:  Strong disinfectants but considered hazardous above certain levels as set by the EPA.
• Distillation: The most common of all water treatment methods.  The planet as a whole acts as a giant distiller.  Man made distillers use significant amounts of energy and require strong chemical (typically acids), to maintain.

On average over 250,000 undersink reverse osmosis (RO) systems are sold in the U.S. every year.  These systems are used to provide purified (but not pure), drinking water in homes and businesses.  The typical system consists of one sediment filter, two carbon filters, a reverse osmosis membrane element (generally producing between 10 and 50 gallons of reverse osmosis water/day, a pressurized storage tank and a separate faucet.

• Efficiency:  Most undersink RO systems take on average 6-15 gallons of water (22.7 to 56.8 liters) to make one gallon (3.8 liters), of reverse osmosis water.  This inefficiency is primarily due to the backpressure produced from the pressurized storage tank.
• Filter Changes:  The average filter carbon and sediment filter life for these systems is one year.  Meaning in the U.S. alone using a “4 stage” RO system, over 750,000 used filters end up in U.S. landfills each year.
• Filters: Many of these systems utilize encapsulated filters and RO membrane elements, meaning every time the filter or membrane element are changed, not only is the filter itself ending up in a landfill, but also the plastic housing they are housed in.